Sunset Beach pot dispensary closes for business license talks

March 5, 2013

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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Jonathan Raper, 35, of Garden Grove cannot afford to purchase the amount of medical marijuana that he needs to manage his pain throughout the day, he says, and receives cannabis at no cost from Patient Med-Aid. The dispensary opened its doors in February 2013 and was cited by the city of Huntington Beach for not having a business license. The owners say that their primary objective is to serve cancer and AIDS patients, and have not been able to apply for a business license, despite repeated attempts to do so. MACKENZIE REISS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Kraig Butcher, 20, of Mission Viejo mans the counter at the Patient Med-Aid marijuana dispensary in Sunset Beach. He has noticed that business has taken a significant downturn ever since the police car was dumped outside the dispensary entrance. MACKENZIE REISS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Helaine Jones, 57, of Anaheim is one of the patients served by Patient Med-Aid in Sunset Beach. The abandoned police car has been sitting in front of the dispensary since the night of Feb. 26, which owners say has deterred a significant amount of customers. MACKENZIE REISS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Kraig Butcher, 20, of Mission Viejo fills a small canister with a strain of marijuana called Starlight for patient Jonnie Bee, 56, of Long Beach, not pictured. Bee says that the marijuana helps her deal with the constant pain from a spinal injury in addition to her arthritis. MACKENZIE REISS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Patient Med-Aid is the first medical marijuana dispensary to be opened in Sunset Beach since 2011, when all dispensaries there were closed by the county. MACKENZIE REISS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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In addition a wide variety of marijuana strains, the dispensary also offers a variety of edibles and THC in liquid form, which is smoked using a vaporizer. MACKENZIE REISS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Jonathan Raper, 35, of Garden Grove cannot afford to purchase the amount of medical marijuana that he needs to manage his pain throughout the day, he says, and receives cannabis at no cost from Patient Med-Aid. The dispensary opened its doors in February 2013 and was cited by the city of Huntington Beach for not having a business license. The owners say that their primary objective is to serve cancer and AIDS patients, and have not been able to apply for a business license, despite repeated attempts to do so. MACKENZIE REISS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

HUNTINGTON BEACH – The first medical marijuana dispensary to open its doors in Sunset Beach in two years closed temporarily Sunday so owners can meet with Huntington Beach officials about acquiring a business license, an owner said.

The dispensary, called Patient Med-Aid after the cooperative that founded it, had been operating without a license since it opened Feb. 4 at a storefront on Pacific Coast Highway near Warner Avenue.

Dispensaries in Sunset Beach had been closed by Orange County in January 2011 ahead of the community's annexation by Huntington Beach, which doesn't offer licenses for medical marijuana dispensaries.

But Patient Med-Aid co-owner Marla James said city officials seemed open to discussing that stance in talks that started Friday.

"Even just one dispensary in this area would be very helpful. That's something that's important, and the fact that we are working with the city will help," said James, a medical marijuana user confined to a wheelchair after losing a leg to diabetes.

City Attorney Jennifer McGrath said in an email that she was aware of the closing but gave no indication whether the city would be receptive to changing its policy for Patient Med-Aid.

James and others at the dispensary said they tried to get a business license from the city but were sent from department to department in search of it. So they have operated without a license for about a month.

Patient Med-Aid was served with two citations for four counts of operating without a business license, according to James.

An unoccupied Huntington Beach police car sat outside the dispensary from Tuesday of last week. It was removed Monday, said police spokesman Mitch O'Brien. He said it was parked legally but wouldn't say why it was there.

The Sunset Beach Community Association is monitoring the issue, according to president Mike VanVoorhis, who said he will brief the group on the dispensary at its Thursday meeting.

Calling Patient Med-Aid an "illegal business," VanVoorhis said he had supported the 2011 closing of Sunset Beach's dispensaries.

He said he had no problem with medical marijuana, per se.

"I have a problem with the actual marijuana clinic next to our parks, schools, neighborhoods," he said.

James and her lawyer are involved in litigation elsewhere. In May, James' lawyer, Matthew Pappas, argued in front of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the cities of Costa Mesa and Lake Forest discriminated against James and other medical marijuana users when the cities banned dispensaries.

The court ruled that medical marijuana use wasn't protected under federal law and that the bans could stand.

The plaintiffs have petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to take the case on appeal.

In interviews last week at Patient Med-Aid, James and co-owner Marty Modiano said the dispensary provides free drugs to AIDS and cancer patients who provide sufficient documentation of their illness for the dispensary's records, while other patients with medical marijuana ID cards pay for the drugs.

"We have a Walgreens or CVS on every corner, practically, and we don't have a dispensary. We are being discriminated against," James said.

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